Provenance: The North Dakota State Archives acquired this record series from the Aeronautics Commission on February 25 and March 31, 1987. This series was processed and the inventory prepared by Karen Mund, Grace Wanttaja, and Kari Rombs Kohlhoff in November 1988.

Copyright: Public records are not subject to copyright restrictions, although record series may contain copyrighted material. Consideration of such copyrights is the responsibility of the researcher.

Access: These records are available for public inspection under provision of the North Dakota Century Code, 55-02.1-08.

Citation: Researchers are requested to cite the record group, series name and number, and the State Historical Society of North Dakota in all footnote and bibliographic references.

Transfers: One-half foot of material was removed from the Aeronautics Commission Airports Files and transferred to the appropriate collection management area of the State Archives. Roughly half of the transferred material consisted of publications such as bulletins, a directory, manuals, newspapers, and published state and federal documents. All publications were transferred to the library.

Transferred to the Photo Archives were 52 photographs, 45 black and white and 7 color, and 20 negatives. The majority of photographs were of airstrips, potential airstrip sites, and documents such as plats, reports, and warranty deeds.

Four state highway maps were transferred to the map collection. Several postal covers were placed with the philatelic collection.

HISTORICAL SKETCH

The Aeronautics Commission was created by Chapter 1, S.L. 1947. Prior to that time, the Public Service Commission supervised aeronautics in North Dakota. The policies and direction of the Aeronautics Commission is governed by a five-man policy-making commission, members of which are appointed by the governor for five-year terms of office; a director is appointed by the Commission. The Commission's original duties were: to encourage establishment of airports and air navigation facilities; to cooperate with and assist the federal government, municipalities, and individuals in the development and coordination of aeronautical activities, including federal aid to airports; to represent the state in aeronautical matters before state and federal agencies, and in court actions in controversies affecting the aeronautical interests of the state; to have jurisdiction over state airways system in matters of safety; and to register all airmen, aircraft mechanics, and aircraft in the state. In later years the Aeronautics Commission was also charged with licensing all aerial crop spraying operations; licensing and regulating all persons engaged in weather modification or cloud seeding; providing state aid airport matching funds to such airport improvement projects as approved and in such amounts as determined by the Commission; assisting cities and counties in the creation of municipal, county-wide, and regional airport authorities; taking active part as intervener in airline proceedings which affect scheduled airline service in the state; allocating state-aid airport grants to public airports and airport authorities for airport construction; owning and operating airports at the International Peace Garden and Border Airport near Noonan, where there are no public agencies to support same; and providing a 20-year long range state-wide airport system plan for major and secondary airport improvements.

Aviation has forged ahead in North Dakota. In 1941, there were less than 100 privately owned aircraft in the state and by 1960, a total of 872 civil aircraft were registered by the Commission. By 1980, a total of 1,655 were registered, of which 1,351 were owned by businesses, professional persons, and flight training schools, and 304 owned and operated by persons engaged in aerial crop spraying. Out of the 101 publicly owned airports in North Dakota in the early 1980s, 62 had paved runways, taxiways, and aprons which included 8 airports served by scheduled airlines and 54 general aviation airports. In addition, there were over 140 privately owned airports owned by farmers and ranchers located at their farms. In the 1970s, the staff held over 125 meetings with cities and counties encouraging the creation of airport authorities. By January 1981, in North Dakota there were 75 municipal airport authorities, 9 county-wide, one township, and one interstate airport, and four regional authorities for a total of 90. The number of airline passengers, both enplaned and deplaned, in the state has also increased over time: in 1970 enplaned passengers numbered 200,678, increasing to 517,367 in 1980 and enplaned and deplaned passengers increased from 401,000 in 1970 to 1,035,292 in 1980. Figures indicate a 158 percent increase in both categories.